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Renee Trudeau

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Renée Peterson Trudeau is an internationally recognized life balance coach, speaker, and author whose work has appeared in the New York Times, US News and World Report, Good Housekeeping, AARP and more. She is the author of the award-winning The Mother's Guide to Self-Renewal: How to Reclaim, Rejuvenate and Re-Balance Your Life and Nurturing the Soul of Your Family: 10 Ways to Reconnect and Find Peace in Everyday Life. Thousands of women around the globe are participating in self-renewal groups for women based on her award-winning self-care curriculum. Renée lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband and 13 year-old son. www.reneetrudeau.com

Blog Post List

The other morning my husband and I were milling around in the kitchen making breakfast and lunches and preparing for school and work. We looked up and saw our 13 year-old on his computer. My husband took a peek as he walked behind my son’s back—we have "no screens before school" policy as we believe this is the time to connect as a family—and saw to his surprise, my son was not emailing a teacher as he had said, but playing a video game! Seeing this set my partner and I off—not because we want to micro-manage our 8th grader, but because we feel this is a pivotal time to teach our son how to...

In the past month I probably received at least ten requests from friends asking for referrals for great therapists. Whenever these calls come in, I try and get my friends to slow down, step back and approach this process with mindfulness and intention. Take your time to get this right; you’re going to be sharing your innermost thoughts and feelings with this person. I’m a big fan of psychotherapy as one of many healing modalities. I wouldn’t be where I am today without the great Health Realization, Imago and Voice Dialogue therapy and coaching I received in my 20’s and 30’s. But not all...

I was lying in bed Sunday morning reading from author Anne Lamott’s beautiful little book Small Victories . In one of her stories about parenting, she shares with a little self-deprecation, but mostly tenderness, how she doesn’t bake for PTA fund raisers, is often disorganized and sometimes forgets to follow-through on updates from her son’s school. Her ability to accept who she is is both endearing and freeing. Her story got me thinking how so many people I meet have a misguided sense about the concept of self-care. I often hear a lot of “shoulds,” and many confess they downright suck at...

I’m preparing to launch a new nonprofit organization in Austin this week focused on supporting parents of teens; the underlying premise: community is medicine. I have many motivations for starting this initiative, but ultimately I have experienced how life-changing it can be to have a support network when going through a challenging life stage. But asking for and receiving support wasn’t always this natural for me. The week before finals my freshman year in college, my dad had a massive heart attack. I was devastated (as was my entire family). And what really saddens me as I look back on that...

A couple weeks ago I came down with a violent 48 hour stomach bug. After my illness, as I slowly regained my strength, I continued to feel “off” for days afterwards. My mood and energy level were low, my joints felt stiff and I had lost my joie de vivre. As I stewed in this malaise, one day it hit me: I hadn’t been to yoga in over a week- duh! Yoga–more than just about anything–helps me recalibrate physically/emotionally, gain perspective, re-energize and find my center. I’ve been to yoga every day for the past three days and am happy to report I’m back in my groove and I feel great! As a...

"If you want reality to be different than what it is, you might as well try to teach a cat to bark.” Author/teacher Byron Katie Saturday morning after yoga I returned home to find my 13 year-old playing video games, the downstairs living area was trashed, chores had been tossed out the window and my husband was nowhere in sight. Earlier that morning, my partner and I had pow-wowed on a plan for the morning which included my husband and son doing "team clean" to bring some order to our home. I felt irritated and watched my zen-like state fly out the window as I yelled upstairs to my husband, "...

“I don’t want to live in the kind of world where we don’t look out for each other. Not just the people that are close to us, but anybody who needs a helping hand. I can’t change the way anybody else thinks, or what they choose to do, but I can do my bit.” ― Charles de Lint Saturday while in a deep triangle pose in yoga I heard my theme for 2016 sound up from my bones: SERVICE. Earlier that morning I was feeling some irritation around all the work involved around launching a new community initiative to support parents of teens. It was feeling burdensome to handle this on top of training two...

“Now I see that the journey was never meant to lead to some new and improved version of me; that it has always been about coming home to who I already am.” ― Katrina Kenison, Magical Journey: An Apprenticeship in Contentment I was elated last week to turn 50. My husband makes fun of me. He says I'm the only person he knows who loves growing old so much that I lied about my age and started saying I was 50 when I was only 48! I am incredibly intrigued by growing older. By the invitation to focus less on what I want to do and more on who I want to be as I move into my "second life," and embrace...

I relish this time of year: my birthday is Jan. 7th (I’m excited to celebrate my big 5-0!), winter beckons us to nest, hibernate and slow down, I love the rich spiritual tapestry of the holy season and of course, we’re given the opportunity to begin anew; to start over again with a fresh clean slate. Everything about this time calls us to turn our gaze inward, reflect and connect with our Wise Selves ( read more ). As essential as it is to connect with our inner world, we're moving so fast, this doesn't naturally occur. We have to consciously schedule it. Here are four ideas to help you...

I recently had the curtain lifted around a key piece of my business. An expensive project I worked on with a business partner over a year ago wasn’t executed well and it was becoming increasingly clear it needed to be addressed. I was angry, frustrated and confused at how this had happened. Then I felt defeated, and snuck off in a corner to sulk and lick my wounds. But then last week I finally dug in and began to tackle this issue head-on. I started the hard work of a)looking at what happened with absolute honesty, b)owning my part in the dance and c)beginning to research how I wanted to move...

Recently my extended family got into a bit of a heated mess around a long-time Christmas giving tradition and how best –or even why— we should carry it out. It really crystalized for me how key these touchstones are for me and my family. Rituals and traditions are what give life meaning. They connect us to humanity and to ourselves. They are powerful and necessary anchors in the world. We all crave sacredness and ritual in our everyday lives — and not just around birthdays, Bar Mitzvahs, and weddings. Rituals can be both carefully planned events and casual but regular remembrances. They might...

Does the thought of hanging lights and attending holiday work parties make you want to grab your sleeping bag and run for the nearest cave? 2015 has been intense for many of us. Often, we felt over-scheduled, overworked and we rarely got the chance to unplug. We navigated big career and life transitions—and had little time to integrate these changes. Frankly, we’re exhausted. We’re ready for rest. Not a relaxed evening by the fire, but a serious stretch of lazy days, long naps, walks in the woods, deep nourishing slumber and joyful, easy, simple connections with friends and family who feed us...

If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable . Seneca Most people are surprised to hear that I love making a big pot of minestrone soup for my family and neighbors as much as I love getting invited to go to India to speak to a women’s group on work/life balance. So after an intense stretch of speaking gigs and events, I’m ready to be at home, anchor, reconnect with my family and get clear on my top priorities. One of the ways I do this is by taking a personal planning retreat. For the last 15 years, I have been taking personal retreats every 90 days to sit with the...

Are you willing to p*** people off in order to take care of yourself? A big part of my work as a life balance teacher/coach is supporting women in attuning and responding to their needs and desires through practicing the art of self-care (read why self-care matters here ). During a recent women’s self-renewal retreat, I challenged my participants to explore what our barriers to self-care are: what really keeps us from taking care of ourselves? Many women shared that they were afraid of what others might think, they were concerned they’d be seen as selfish or–one of the biggest–they might...

Self-care is not about adding something to your to-do list, it’s about cultivating a kinder, gentler relationship with yourself . Renee Trudeau Our family is navigating some big transitions this month (who’s not, right now?!). As I shift into allowing myself to take life hour by hour, as needed, I rest in the reminder that I’ve got a few amazing tools in my bag that support me through challenging times. Three grounding self-care practices that help me find my center and remember all is well –even when a storm is swirling around me—include: 1. Starting my day intentionally. When I feel fearful...

Whether your kids are toddlers or teens, the start of a new school year offers the opportunity for a fresh start and a chance to do things differently. If you’re feeling some anxiety around all the transitions, scheduling, juggling and driving that usually accompany a new school year, take a deep breath, you’re not alone. Then, pause and consider the following ideas. Adopting even one of these strategies could make a huge difference in how you experience this potentially hectic time. Start with compassion and a “baby steps” mindset as you consider the following: Identify what’s #1 for your...

Yesterday we attended a moving "Ceremony of 13" at our church for my teenage son. Cultures around the world share a tradition of marking the transition from childhood to adulthood beginning at age 13 (in the Jewish tradition this is called a Bar or Bat Mitzvah). Our ministers shared why it's key to pause and honor this threshold or "crossing over" with ritual--just like we honor other thresholds such as baptisms, births, weddings, deaths, turning 18 and more. After each youngadult received a blessing and anointing, parents took turns sharing what they loved and honored in their young teens...

This morning I made migas with mushrooms for breakfast. Then I dropped off my son to volunteer at our friends wonderful farm camp (where I was greeted by roosters and got to pet a gentle horse and a goat) and I attended a morning yoga class. Driving to my office to begin my workday, I was almost delirious with joy over this change in my normal morning schedule. The sunflowers seemed to shimmer, my iced hibiscus iced tea tasted more delicious and everyone around me seemed more interesting (dramatic sounding, but true). What happened?! I woke up my brain by choosing to do it different. Do it...

"Sometimes letting things go is an act of far greater power than defending or hanging on." ― Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose A few year ago, I led a telecourse on how to let go and go with the flow (available for download now ). I was motivated to facilitate this class because I was tired of always juggling and trying to anticipate/manage the endless details of my life, family and business. I knew there had to be another way and I wanted to explore this theme with a tribe who also wanted to live more "in the flow of life." I longed to feel more trusting, free and...

I was recently at a dinner party and found myself in a corner with a heart surgeon discussing the concept of self-care. Like many in healthcare, she saw self-care as something you “should do” for your physical health (exercise, eat well, get enough sleep), but that’s where it ends. She became curious when I shared that I define self-care as the art of attuning and responding to your needs and desires, moment to moment. You could see the wheels turning as she contemplated my definition. Pick up an onion and hold it in your palm. For me, self-care would be the outer layer, then a few layers...